A fixed cost does not necessarily remain perfectly constant. It can vary. But they do not vary correspondingly with production or business activity. For example, certain factors may cause a company’s utility bills to go up. An uncommonly hot summer may require more air-conditioning and higher energy bills. This fluctuation in a fixed cost, however, has no relation to the level of the company’s businessactivity so it is still considered a fixed cost.

Fixed Costs Examples

Good examples of fixed costs include rental payments and utility bills. If a widget-producing company operates out of a building, it must pay rent and utility bills for its space. During a month in which widget sales are very high, the company pays a set rate for rent and utility bills. During a month in which widget sales are slow, the company still pays the same rent and the same utility bills. Rent and utility bills do not fluctuate with the level of business activity.

Fixed Costs and Decision-Making

For example, if a manager is deciding between keeping production levels constant or increasing production, the primary factors in this decision will be the incremental or marginal costs of the production of additional units of output, and not the fixed costs related to the operations that cannot be altered and will not change with the level of production. Therefore, in most straightforward instances, fixed costs are not relevant for production decision, and incremental costs, or variable costs, are relevant for these decisions.